The 2012 Formula 1 season comes to a close with Schumacher's retirement and Sebastian Vettel winning his third straight championship - Brazilian GP results

It's a wrap, the 2012 Formula 1 season is officially in the record books. A bittersweet season for Mercedes fans who had some moments to be proud of with Nico Rosberg scoring a victory but also learning that Michael Schumacher would be retiring from the sport. Overall, a disappointing season for Mercedes who finishes in fifth place way behind winner Red Bull Racing by a whopping 318 points.

Sebastian Vettel took home the driver's title for the third straight year with his sixth place finish just barely good enough to hold off Fernando Alonso who finished in second. The final margin of victory for Vettel over Fernando Alonso was 3 points.

The season is over and there will be some major changes especially for Mercedes who will have Lewis Hamilton joining the mix as well as Mercedes taking over sole control the Formula 1 team. Hopefully the 2013 season holds a much better result for the pointed star. Brazilian GP results as well as final season standings below.

This race had all the thrills you would want in a F1 race.
Awesome actions from many drivers, crashes, drama, great overtakings, you name it.
Pitty the SC had to come in the track so the carbon parts could be removed, which costed Button and Hulkenberg their 47 second lead.
Bad luck for Lewis for he could have won this. And Mc Laren could have been 2nd in the constructors championship...
Also a great effort from Hulkenberg. Pitty he took out LH.
Also a very good finish for Ferrari. Excelent teamdriving from Massa, especially in the first few laps.
And the weather played a major role this Sunday.

Well MS still finished 7th and in the points.
Rosberg was unfortunate to have a deflating right rear tire just after his pitstop, which dropped him back to 15th, from where he could not come back.
I'm curious how he will stack up to LH next year.
Let's just hope the 2013 Mercedes car will be better compared to the competition than the 2012 version.

The onlyy problem with the race was the favoritism that FIA showed. Vettel overtook Kubayashi when the yellow flags were being waved. That's an illegal move. But once again, FIA showed that for Vettel, the rules can bend.

OK, missed that. BBC didn't pick up on that as well.
But as Mc Nish states Kobayashi was gonna pit anyway, so maybe he let go pf the throttle early so Vettel could go by...
Nobody made an issue out of it later as well.

Button and Hulkenberg did an amazing job staying out on slicks when everybody else went in for inters and back to slocks later on.
Truely epic.

The onlyy problem with the race was the favoritism that FIA showed. Vettel overtook Kubayashi when the yellow flags were being waved. That's an illegal move. But once again, FIA showed that for Vettel, the rules can bend.

The onlyy problem with the race was the favoritism that FIA showed. Vettel overtook Kubayashi when the yellow flags were being waved. That's an illegal move. But once again, FIA showed that for Vettel, the rules can bend.

Incorrect. The yellow lights that were flashing as he overtook were lights indicating track condition. There was no caution at that point on the track hence the reason Vettel was not penalized.
I did however feel the stewards made a huge mistake by giving Hulkenberg a penalty for taking out Hamilton. It was clear a racing accident that was not intentional, but because it was Hamilton/McLaren and he was in the lead....Hulkenberg got dinged. Totally a BS call.

Fantastic race and a great season. Can't wait for 2013 but I'm very sad to see F1 moving to NBC. It really is a shame as I'm sure we will not get a watered down version now - plus Lee Diffey is an idiot and not having Varsha announcing is going to suck.

But as Mc Nish states Kobayashi was gonna pit anyway, so maybe he let go pf the throttle early so Vettel could go by...

Originally Posted by Sticky

Complete BS if true but if the dude was off throttle and going into the pits what is the big deal?

Kobayashi was going to pit, but Vettel should stayed behind him and wait for him to go out then smash the throttle. And also yellow light means slowing down, did you see him even trying to slow down?

Originally Posted by LZH

Incorrect. The yellow lights that were flashing as he overtook were lights indicating track condition. There was no caution at that point on the track hence the reason Vettel was not penalized.

Check this:

A single yellow indicates danger ahead, such as debris from a crash. Drivers must slow down as they pass; no overtaking is permitted, unless it is unavoidable such as a driver retiring in the section, or a driver is lapped.

Two waved yellows at the same post indicates great danger ahead. Drivers must slow down and be prepared to stop; no overtaking is permitted unless a driver is lapped.

Yellow flags and the SC board (a large white board with "SC" in large black lettering) indicate that the Safety car has been deployed. Drivers must slow down, not overtake and be prepared to leave the normal racing line or even stop as a threat obstructs all or part of the track

Originally Posted by LZH

I did however feel the stewards made a huge mistake by giving Hulkenberg a penalty for taking out Hamilton. It was clear a racing accident that was not intentional, but because it was Hamilton/McLaren and he was in the lead....Hulkenberg got dinged. Totally a BS call.

Kobayashi was going to pit, but Vettel should stayed behind him and wait for him to go out then smash the throttle. And also yellow light means slowing down, did you see him even trying to slow down?

Sorry but you are incorrect. The flags that were being waved were yellow and red, meaning treacherous track conditions....and there were also dual flashing yellow lights indicating the same, track conditions. There was no caution at that area of the track, hence the pass was legal.

"
Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's supporters were clinging to hope even after Sebastian Vettel sealed his third consecutive world championship on Sunday.
Replay footage from the Brazilian title showdown appeared to depict Red Bull's Vettel passing Kamui Kobayashi under yellow flags during the Interlagos race.
However, the apparent infraction was not investigated by the stewards during the race, raising suspicions the officials had not noticed.
So it became a post-race point of intrigue, given that if Vettel was subsequently demoted from sixth to eighth place, Alonso would have won the championship by a point.
"The yellow flag, (there's) not any news," the Spaniard told reporters after the podium ceremony.
Alonso said race winner Jenson Button had told him about the possibility Vettel had passed illegally.
"There was some kind of hope when he told me there is some yellow flag problem but then I think it was not true," he admitted. Indeed, it was Ferrari's technical boss Pat Fry who clarified that the waving flag was actually coloured yellow and red, which is a warning to drivers about treacherous track conditions. "

Track condition light is yellow and red, not yellow. In Kubayashi case, FIA said it was mistakenly understood as yellow light which infact was yellow and red.

This however, clearly shows the flag on the screen and also the yellow light on the steering wheel.

There is NO track condition light that is yellow and red. There is only a FLAG that is yellow and red. Do you really think the FIA would let something like that slide when the drivers championship is at stake ??

Do you really think the FIA would let something like that slide when the drivers championship is at stake ??

FIA does nothing post-race until a team say something about it. That's how they act. Plus it's not the first time they keep their mistakes quiet and under the radar.

This was completely a illegal pass. This was not a yellow and red flag, it was a yellow flag and if you watch the vids carefully you can clearly see a marshal is waving flag. Why Ferrari does not something about it? Because they only can file a complaint to FIA just in the race night and after that no one can do about it and now it's too late.

There is NO track condition light that is yellow and red. There is only a FLAG that is yellow and red.

The window of protest for race incidents has long past.
That's 30 minutes after publication of the official results of the race

Article 174 (d) of the International Sporting Code makes this clear (emphasis added):

Protests against any error or irregularity occurring during a competition, referring to the non-compliance of vehicles with the regulations and concerning the classification established at the end of the event shall, except in circumstances which the stewards of the meeting consider as physically impossible, be made within thirty minutes of the official publication of the results.

Yes, nothing subtle about those
Not sure what they mean though.
Ferrari ended up 2nd in the Constructors Championship, Renault came out 4th, trailing 97 points.
Ferrari drivers ended up 2nd and 7th, Renault drivers were 3rd and 8th.
Even in season wins Ferrari had 3 versus Renault just the one.